By KYIV. Nov 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The share of respondents who consider it necessary to develop a network of strategic universal transport hubs in the western regions of Ukraine, which can act as a capacity reserve, decreased over the year from 79% to 70%, according to the results of the “Infrastructure Index 2023” study conducted by the European Business Association (EBA).
According to it, 26% of respondents believe that this will be an unnecessary investment after the restoration of shipping in the Black Sea.
In addition, the number of supporters of the development of transport infrastructure projects (marine terminals, railways) of European neighboring countries at the expense of Ukrainian investments has decreased from 76% to 61%, while 36% believe that such infrastructure will be redundant and not payable after the opening of Ukrainian ports.
The results of the EBA study also show that 46% of respondents consider it advisable to privatize port terminals in wartime. Of these, 53% are in favor of increasing the number of existing privatization facilities at the expense of other port assets.
Some 52% of respondents named object-by-object (terminal) privatization as the most effective approach to such privatization, within the framework of which individual port terminals can act as separate objects of privatization.
The majority of companies surveyed (84%) are ready to resume logistics through sea routes after de-blocking the Black Sea ports, although 29% of respondents indicated that after de-blocking the ports they will need additional funding, including government support.
According to the EBA study, the most relevant investment projects in Europe and Ukraine for the logistics market were named by respondents as the development of highways connecting Ukraine and the EU (66% of respondents), the development of Euro-gauge railways on the territory of Ukraine (62%), and the construction of strategic universal transport hubs in Ukraine (61%).
More than three quarters (79%) of the surveyed transport business specialists did not stop their activities in 2023, and of the remaining 21%, 2% remained idle, 13% partially resumed work, and 6% fully resumed work.
Some 47% of surveyed enterprises suffered direct losses as a result of hostilities. Of these, 43% assess the level of damage as significant, and 2% consider restoration impossible or impractical.
Of those affected, 41% have already restored damaged capacity, and 11% will do so in the near future. Another 34% plan to rebuild after the end of the war and 14% do not plan to rebuild.
At the same time, only 31% of companies surveyed plan to try to recover losses, compared with 50% last year.
Among those who have such plans, 32% have recorded damaged/destroyed property and collected evidence, 27% have assessed the damage, and 10% each report filing a lawsuit and opening criminal proceedings. Another 10% are looking for consultants to carry out the activities mentioned above.
The Infrastructure Index has been conducted by the European Business Association since 2020. A total of 62 transport and logistics specialists from EBA member companies took part in the survey. The main partners of the study are the law firms Arzinger and Sayenko Kharenko.
